Quillan Salkilld: Fighting Gamrot, Buying Cars & Believing in Aliens

What's something mysterious about you that UFC fans might be surprised to learn?

You know what, I, I actually.

You know, saying that, I actually don't find I am mysterious now, like, at all, like I'm pretty, I'm like pretty open book, like I, I show a lot of myself on, say on the internet, like I like to joke around and be silly, and I think I've showed a lot of that on, uh, online, so.

Yeah, it's probably Yeah, I'm not, I don't think I'm mysterious at all actually, thinking about it actually.

Yeah.

So you mentioned the online presence and obviously you're training and you're in peak physical condition, but you are a prize fighter, right?

You've obviously made a, a conscious decision to increase your presence on social media.

How, how important do you think that is ultimately to a fighter's career?

Uh, I don't know how important it is.

I'm just, I'm miss having fun on there.

Like, I find when I just post random, random silly stuff, that, that gets the most, you know, pop.

If I do anything too formal, it doesn't get, yeah, it doesn't get anywhere near the amount of, uh, you know, like attention that, uh, and just something random and, and silly.

Silly yet, so I just found it's, he's gotta not try hard and I think he does, he does well.

And all that social media's you, some of these fighters have teams doing it for them, you're doing it all on your own.

I'm just doing it all on my own, yeah, it's just, um, you know, I got, I got, um, people that help, you know, like, take pictures and, and film stuff, but when it, when it's like what to post, it's uh.

Yeah.

All the, all the silly stuff, you know, it's me anyway, so.

I think I've heard you say that you kind of have an obsession with cars, right?

A bit, yeah, yeah, I, I've, I've dabbled in, uh, for the past, you know, couple of years, like I had um, had a roommate and my really, really good.

Friend from school, he's a car salesman, so he's always trying to get me, get me in the, in the dealership to get a car.

So I think after every fight, he's like, Come down, come down to check out a car.

And he knows I'm, I'm a sucker.

Like, as soon as I see something I like, I'm just like, I just want it.

And I, I'm kind of, uh, whatchamacallit?

Uh, I don't think too much.

If I like something, I just wanna get it, so I don't, I don't, I don't care about the actual decision itself.

I just wanna, which I've done with a couple of cars already.

Yeah.

What's the one car that was pretty ridiculous, a lot of money that you don't regret no matter what?

It might have been the, I bought my, um, my Audi RS3, and at the time, I probably was in a position where I probably should've got that.

And I was kinda scared to, like, cause I was gonna, like, tell my manager, and I was kinda scared to do that, and I, It was already too late.

I was like, when I called her up, I said it's kind of too late, I signed everything, and uh, yeah, but I don't regret it at all because right now it's all good, so, yeah.

Well, you mentioned it's all good, you've kind of taken the UFC by storm, it's just a little over a year ago, you, you know, you won a contender series fight, made your debut.

Did you think you'd uh get here this fast?

Did you always have that in the back of your mind?

Not really, like, I didn't really, I haven't really thought too much of like the actual, like, uh.

Much more like the lead up, but I've always had the end goal of becoming the champion, and uh in terms of like how fast and, you know, the path towards the belt has never been like a thing that's really been playing on my mind.

I always like, always just focus on like the next step.

So not really expected this uh fast climb, but at the same time I'm not, I'm not surprised cos I'm, I fully believe in my, you know, my ability inside that, in that cage and my ability to produce some cool moments, and those cool moments fast track you up the, up the ladder.

Do you or does anybody on your team ever think, hey, maybe this is too fast, I'm already in a main event, or you're just good with the path that you're on?

I'm, I'm good, I just, you know, I like to play things by, by ear and.

You know, take every opportunity that , uh, that comes, cos I don't wanna, I'd rather.

I know, I don't wanna miss out on any opportunities, so I like to, I like to jump in just like, you know, head first, fast as possible, so I think it suits my personality to like, you know, jump me up quick.

Um, you've spent some time for this camp training here in Vegas, get to utilize the PI also working at Syndicate, which is like the big, hottest gym right now, won all the awards at the MMA gym.

What's it like working?

At Syndicate with guys like John Wood and some of the guys they have in the gym there.

It's been wicked, yeah, shout out to Syndicate, coach John Wood, thanks for, you know, having me down, allowing me to train with the lads there, it's been, been bloody awesome.

I've had some, yeah, really good looks, some really good bodies to, to work with there , and I, I feel like I'm very well prepared for, for my fight on Saturday.

Um, and then just a couple more for me.

You mentioned your fight on Saturday.

What does Gamra, what is the biggest obstacle you're gonna have to overcome, because you're known as a pretty quick finisher, he's been in some five-round fights.

Are you looking to display your full arsenal, or are you still going in there, like kill right away, get the finish right away?

Yeah, well, I find I'm, I'm never rushing in there anyway, so even when I do happen to get like these first round finishes, it's not like I'm like going there and charging the guy and like hunting it straight away off the bat, um.

Yeah, I, I, it just so happens to, to come when I'm just, you know, when I'm just throwing.

Um, yeah, I think, yeah, Gamrat's biggest.

You know, his biggest uh um tool set is his grappling, yeah, and his, his pace when he grapples, so it's just, yeah, just dealing with that, just make sure I'm not doing anything silly and, you know, overexerting myself or I'm gonna, you know, gas instantly, so I have done that before where I've done some silly stuff and, And like squeeze too hard where it's like got me a bit tired, but I'm, I'm also comfortable with fighting tight.

It doesn't matter if I get tired after round one, I'm, I know I can fight 4 rounds, dog tight if, if, uh, if need be.

And I know I've, I've done that before.

I've gone 5 rounds before, back on the local scene at home in Oz.

I know what it's like to, to battle through those extra, those extra, you know, 10 minutes on top of the, um, the 3 rounds.

So it's, uh, Yeah, it'll be, it'll be cool to, to showcase the, the skill set over, over 5 rounds, but we're looking to, we're still looking to get that done early.

Get that bonus, right, and then last one for me, are aliens real?

Like, they gotta be right.

They gotta be, maybe, yeah.

I don't know, maybe, maybe it's uh.

Oh, no, I've actually thought about this sometimes, like.

Yeah, cos there's obviously no evidence, but maybe is it, is it, is it hidden?

Is it, is there hidden evidence or is it maybe we just can't comprehend, you know, maybe we're smart, but maybe there's just some shit that we can't even comprehend, so I try not to even.

Not to even focus on that, so.

And if they are real, if they came to Earth in one sentence, how would you describe MMA to them if they had never seen MMA?

I say we'd, yeah, we'd lock ourselves in a little, in a little cage and we, And we try to kill each other with our bare hands and while other people cheer, and we get paid.

Yeah, yeah.

Thanks so much for the time, man, appreciate it.

Good luck.